Django Reinhardt Festival All-Stars coming to Hanover

Thursday

Nov 1, 2012 at 6:00 AMNov 2, 2012 at 9:56 AM

By Richard Duckett Telegram & Gazette Reporter

Call it hot jazz, or gypsy jazz, or manouche — the European counterpart to American jazz developed by musicians such as French guitarist and composer Django Reinhardt (1910-53) and violinist Stephane Grappelli (1908-97) is still swinging along.

One man credited with bringing it along nicely these days is French guitarist (and Reinhardt look-alike) Dorado Schmitt. He's been bringing the Django Reinhardt Festival All-Stars to the United States on a regular basis, and their current tour will see them perform at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts at 5 p.m. Sunday.

The other all-stars include accordion player Ludovic Beier, violinist Pierre Blanchard, bass player Xavier Nikq, and rhythm guitarist Francko Mehrstein. Also on the bill Sunday is Boston's Grace Kelly Quintet.

Beier, who lives just outside of Paris, has made several trips stateside with the all stars, and his playing can be heard on a 2007 live album recorded at the Kennedy Center. “Minor Swing,” a number on the CD by Reinhardt and Grappelli, swings in an agreeable gypsy-sounding groove, with each of the featured musicians taking solo turns. Beier's fingers have been described as having the ability to fly on his button accordion, and that comes across on the “Minor Swing” track in a major way.

Does he find American audiences receptive to this kind of music, jazz, swing, or call it what you will?

“Very receptive,” Beier replied during a telephone interview from France last week.

“The United States is a country for jazz music, and the Reinhardt style is the first answer to pure American jazz.” People here appreciate that, “but you have to play good quality music,” Beier added. “You have be good always. There is no bad or good audience. You have to be good every time.”

Reinhardt and Grappelli formed the pioneering “Quintette du Hot Club de France” with Reinhardt's brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar, and Louis Vola on bass.

In the U.S., places such as the New York jazz club Birdland have helped keep the spirt of Reinhardt alive. Beier was scheduled to leave France today and join the Django Reinhardt Festival All-Stars for a tour that will include Birdland again and culminate toward the end of the month across the border with appearances at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

A New York Times review of a previous all stars performance at Birdland noted that mere homage to Reinhardt took a diverting “backseat to some looser pursuits, like buoyant rhythm, blinding technique and alert interplay.”

Beier first met Schmitt in 2000 at a jazz festival in France. “It's more than a lineup, it's a kind of family,” Beier said of the all-stars. “We know each other very well. You play with them, (but) you also travel with them, dinner, lunch and hotels. The freedom is because you are comfortable with the musicians. The daring is not daring because you have your family around you.”

Beier grew up in a Paris suburb where his father was an accordion hobbyist. Attending a music school at the age of 8, Beier was given a choice of which instrument he wanted to play — including piano and violin — and he chose accordion, “because we had one at home and it was attractive to me at home. It is still attractive to me.”

However, other instruments also caught his eye. By 14 he was playing keyboards, experimenting with electronic music, and then playing the drums. But at 20 he heard the call of the accordion again, especially after meeting gypsy guitarist Angelo Bebarre.

“I started to play accordion in a jazz way and understand it that way. I began to discover things,” Beier said. At 24 he was playing on French, European and American stages with gypsy jazz greats. And he learned other styles, too. “Now I can say I can play mostly everything with my accordion,” he said.

Still, there are always new discoveries to look to. Worcester, for example. Beier said he has never been here but can recall seeing a road sign during a previous trip to the region. He was intrigued about coming. “It's always important for us to discover new concert halls, new places, new audiences,” he said. “New musicians.”

At the age of 20, Grace Kelly has already made a name for herself as a saxophonist, singer, composer, songwriter and arranger. She has recorded and/or performed with Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Morgan, Cedar Walton, Marian McPartland, Harry Connick Jr., Dianne Reeves and James Cotton, among others.

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